RMAFC chief seeks abolition of state/council account

Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) Elias Mbam has recommended the abolition of the state/local government joint account.

Mbam predicated his recommendation on the abuse to which the establishment and management of the account has been subjected.

According to him, rather than fatten the account before sharing the funds, its operators reduce the deposit, a development he argued, negated the purpose for which the account was created.

He urged the National Assembly to take advantage of the ongoing constitutional review to delete the state/local government joint account from the constitution.

The RMAFC chief decried the flagrant abuse of the state/local government joint accounts by governors, alleging that they involved in the manipulation of the grassroots funds are behaving “smarter than the constitution”.

Calling for the abolition of the constitutional provision that gave teeth to the establishment of the joint account, Mbam said the third tier administration would remain ineffective as long as the joint account regime was still in place.

The RMAFC chief argued that since the 774 local governments in the country are constitutional beneficiaries of the Federation Account, their entitlements should be paid directly and not through the state government.

He said: “Since some governors have decided to be smarter than the constitution by tampering with local government allocations, it is better to revisit the constitution and change the clause about the state/local government joint account.”

Speaking with reporters in Minna yesterday, Mbam said the abuse of the joint account has become a concern to Nigerians, stressing that its continued retention in the constitution would spell doom for governance at the grassroots.

He said: “There have been allegations that local government and state joint account have been abused by some governors. The commission’s position is that the joint account be abolished. Local governments should get their fund directly from the Federal Government.”

Lamenting what he described as ‘bastardisation’ of the account, Mbam noted: “The issue of joint account has continued mainly because it is constitutional. When that clause of the constitution was drawn, it was done with good intention. It was supposed to be one of the tools of development but now, it’s been greatly abused. The account was to be increased before sharing and not for state government to reduce it before sharing it.”

He challenged the National Assembly and Nigerians to cash on the on-going move to review and amend the 1999 Constitution by ensuring the abolishment of the account.

Mbam also blamed the high cost of governance on over bloated political appointments at the three tiers of government.

He said a deliberate and conscious effort must be taken to reduce the number of aides a governor has to bring down the cost of governance and enable the states have more resources for development.

He said: “The cost of governance is very high and it is a great concern to us all.

We have made efforts in reducing the high cost of governance. The aides of political officers are too many. You will see where a governor has as many as 1,000 aides, this increases the cost of governance.

“We need to stop wastage so that states can have resources to address certain issues rather than depending on federal allocation all the time.”